New sounds along the Thruway

Having long since equipped the NERW-mobile with EZPass, that’s not exactly the sort of new sound I had in mind for this week’s update, which comes to you from a drive a couple of weekends ago that took us from home base down to the New York City area. Here’s some of what we captured along the way:

Somewhere around where the eastern edge of the Geneva market blends into the western fringe of Syracuse, we captured new Catholic signal WTMI 88.7. Fully entering the Syracuse market, we grabbed an ID from Radio Disney affiliate WOLF 1490 just days after simulcaster WAMF 1300 Fulton/Oswego changed calls to WOSW, as well as an ID from WXTL 105.9 many months after it flipped from talk to “Rebel” active rock.

Moving along to Utica, we get a first listen to the new WUTQ-FM 100.7 and to its simulcaster on 1480 in Remsen where the WRCK calls formerly on 100.7 are being parked. (And yes, there’s a WRCK 100.7 ID still in the queue that we need to get posted to fill in the gaps here.) Down the road in Albany, it’s “Hot 99.1” on the combination of translator W256BU and WQSH 105.7’s HD2 (and yes, we have the HD1 still awaiting posting here), as well as the recently-flipped WDCD-FM 96.7 (replacing now-dark WDCD 1540) and the ever-expanding WAMC-FM 90.3 mega-legal, in pledge drive mode no less. (1-800-323-9262! 1-800-323-9262!)

Making the big turn from 90 East to 87 South, our next stops are in the Poughkeepsie market, checking out the “Dance FX” format on a pair of HD2s (WJGK 103.1 and the newish WGNY-FM 98.9, which also have HD1s queued up for updates here) and several translators, as well as “Family 560” WCKL.

Just to the east, in what we dub the Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury CT market, it’s another translator-driven combo, the “B107.3” oldies originating on WAXB 850, with lots more Danbury awaiting a future Toppy installment.

And just to the west, in the Middletown NY market, we hear Clear Channel’s WJIP 1370 dropping its ID into what’s otherwise a simulcast with Poughkeepsie’s WKIP.